8 landslide-prone Ilocos b’gays named

SAN FERNANDO, La Union — Eight areas, mostly upland municipalities, in the Ilocos region have been identified as landslide-prone.

Engineer Samuel Paragas, regional director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, told The STAR that Ilocos Norte and La Union have each three landslide-prone areas, and Ilocos Sur, two.

Although Pangasinan faces no threats of landslides, the province is flood-prone.

Based on their geo-hazard mapping, Paragas said the areas of concern for landslides in Ilocos Norte are Barangays Capasan in Dingras, Malasug Sur in Badoc, and Patapat in Pagudpud.

Also in the list are Barangays Up-uplas and Bulalaan in Sudipen town and Barangay Lubing in San Juan, all in La Union; and Baringcucurong and Malaya in Suyo and Cervantes towns, respectively, all in Ilocos Sur.

Paragas said the landslide-prone villages are situated on mountain slopes which could collapse during heavy rains.

He said most parts of Pangasinan get flooded when it rains because half of the province’s land area is flat and rivers are heavily silted.

However, Paragas said less people could be affected in the landslide-prone areas since they are not thickly populated.

"The results of our geo-hazard studies are usually given to the concerned local government units for them to formulate disaster preparations and for information dissemination," he said.